China’s digital tech market remains robust despite softening economy

Consistent government support and a booming tech ecosystem has led to China becoming a leader in digital technologies. As a result, China’s digital tech job market is expected to see sustained, albeit slightly slower growth in hiring owing to a slowing economy that will also contribute to a renewed focus on digitalisation for many companies.

A period of unparalleled development in AI & digital transformation

These are some of the findings from The Inside Story in China, a monthly regional recruitment analysis undertaken by global recruitment expert Hays. Focusing on ‘Digital Tech’, the analysis found that both public and private investments in e-commerce, cloud, data science, and particularly the artificial intelligence are expected to stay strong in China.

Fitting in with the government’s vision of becoming the world leader in AI technology by 2030, China, and particularly Beijing and Shanghai are two major cities that have made tech innovation a priority, and have been applying new technologies like e-commerce, data, cloud and AI in everything from living to studying to working. This is perhaps best illustrated by the recent story of how an AI programme helped identify and prevent the potential suicide of a student in China.

However, there has been a slight slowdown in hiring observed over the last six months, partly due to the ongoing US-China trade war as well as a slowing economy. As a result, many companies and traditional industries are struggling to maintain the same revenue growth as previous years; leading them to look at digital tech or digital transformation to drive their profits and connect with their customers.

Work cultures adapt to welcome top tech talent

AI talent is currently most in demand in China, particularly in Shanghai and Beijing. In other parts, there is still a significant focus on software engineering, including coding and developing programs and mobile apps. More companies are also hiring for ‘digital transformation’ roles as they move away from hiring consultants and towards building their in-house teams as a measure to control costs and ensure continued transformation.

Considering the candidate short nature of the current digital tech market in China, it has become imperative for employers to cultivate a brand that will attract excellent candidates. This has led to more companies investing in CSR programs, as well as marketing on LinkedIn and other platforms to display their culture, employees, and emphasise their actual working environments.

Simon Lance, Managing Director of Hays China commented, “Despite the changing macro-economic conditions impacting China, candidates in the digital tech sector remain in extremely high demand. Employers have consequently moved away from being reliant on lucrative financial packages & stock options and are instead evolving their attraction strategies to focus more on offering work-life balance and innovative, empowered workplaces. The rapid pace of change in this sector is continually creating new roles and requirements for existing functions, so candidates looking to future-proof their careers should consider regularly upskilling in other emerging technologies such as IoT, blockchain and RPA (robotic process automation).”

To read the full Inside Story of Digital Tech in China, please click here.